How much did you spend at Disney?

[parmtoo]

When we had a camper, we cooked breakfast and dinner at camp. We ate lunch in the parks and just did quick counter service.

 

[KELLY]

Thanks so much for chiming in on this!!!

I was really looking to see what you spend on extras, when room/tickets and flights are paid for. I have told my husband that I don't want to have to tell my kids "No, you can't have that!" the whole time we're there (like we typically do), but I don't want them to blow all of their money the first day either. My oldest is very careful with what she buys and thinks everything through before she spends her money. My middle kiddo is completely opposite. You all have given me some great ideas...I really appreciate it!

I don't give my girls a set dollar amount. We went for 11 days so I just told them they could pick something every other day. I think they both ended up with 5 or 6 things and I'm pretty sure I still spend under 250-300 for the both of them. I hear you I'm the mean mom I'm always saying no. My kids don't even bother asking anymore. The both got disney animator dolls, Duffy, Clothes for duffy and a couple of misc stuff animals. I will say my youngest would rahter have a lollipop than a toy any day. So I kind of had to help her. LOL

 

[littlezar]

We spent approximately $1350 over 10 days on food (Ohana breakfast, counter service and a few meals outside the park - Bahama Breeze, Fridays & McDonalds), parking & souveniers for the 6 of us.

We also spent $400 on gas, hotel on the drive down, food on drive down & home and groceries for rental house.

 

[budafam]

We just got back from a 9 day trip (just me and DD4) and we kept the spending to under $100. It was my 4th trip in 17 months and I did buy a bunch of shirts and things online with coupon codes before our trip (much cheaper this way!). We had the DxDP so I didn't have to spend any extra for snacks.

 

[smithgang5]

I'm taking my family of six for four days we will visit each park . Two of my kids are teens and will probably venture off on there own while at the park .. So my question how much to give them each day for food and whatever ? We have no meal plan and will just be eating quick service meals .. Any help would be great

 

[hardrocker1]

Dh and I also decided we will go to a nearby grocery and get breakfast items like cereal and muffins and eat all our breakfasts at the resort.

With that said, what grocery stores, are nearby?

Blessings, Michelle

 

[missmun52]

First trip we went and spent probably $100, we had the dining plan. We did not have lots of money as hubby was just out of school and me still in school.

surprisingly we spent around that much on a few subsequent trips as well even when financially we could have spent more.

To keep on a budget on the last few trips we have given DS a $100 gift card and I get $300 in cash split it in half and DH and I carry $150 each for 10 days. We generally spend some on tips and cab fare ect as we are not big suvioneer people (except i have to get a coffee mug each year along with my refillable cup)

Last trip I went preggo and treated myself to a $150 massage so we spent a little more than the cash we carry on hand. Its really a personal choice how much you "need"

 

[missmun52]

Thanks so much for chiming in on this!!!

I was really looking to see what you spend on extras, when room/tickets and flights are paid for. I have told my husband that I don't want to have to tell my kids "No, you can't have that!" the whole time we're there (like we typically do), but I don't want them to blow all of their money the first day either. My oldest is very careful with what she buys and thinks everything through before she spends her money. My middle kiddo is completely opposite. You all have given me some great ideas...I really appreciate it!

What you can do is allow them to buy the souvenirs with their allotted money towards the end of the trip. Most things in the parks can be found at the Disney store in DTD. You can plan a shopping trip for one of your last days and have them write down what they want as they see it in the parks so they dont feel as though it will be forgotten.
We have also bought Disney t-shirts on clearance at the disney store before going for less than $5.00 each so we never buy clothing in the parks for the outrageous prices, you can save it and give it to them there.

 

[lawnmd]

my wife, 5 year old son, and I got back on saturday night from our first trip to Disneyworld. We spent around $650 over 7 days at Disney, not including tickets, dining plan, resort, airfare, MNSSHP tickets.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

For 5 nights 6 days over the last 3 trips we have averaged about 700.00. We did not have dining plan last trip so that total included most dining.

 

[pigletto]

I never did answer this properly ..

The real answer is "it depends". We've had trips where the kids had 50 dollars each and that was it and we had a blast.
Lately they save up for months before we go, and we give them each 100 so they might have 200 or more each.
Ds8 spends it all, and mostly at the Lego store.
DD15 never spends more than half, and only on presents for her friends, and brings most of it back with her.

 

[kstgelais4]

I kept pretty good records from our last trip, I'm rounding up, but here were the totals:
This is for 11 nights with 8 people and the DDP
- We bought $50 Disney Gift Cards for each kid before we left, and then budgeted $100 for the two of us for souvenirs. We ended up spending the $300 in GC, plus $130 because I splurged and bought my DD the Cinderella's castle for her birthday which we celebrated while we were there...........$430
-18% gratuity was added to each meal because we were are party of 8 It rounded up to $320 for 11 nights....................................... $320
-BBB for DD's Birthday plus her big sister..............................$110
-Food not purchased on the DDP (which was stupid because we had leftover credits)..........................................................................$80
GRAND TOTAL = $940

(hopefull my math adds up, it's late here )

 

[kstgelais4]

What you can do is allow them to buy the souvenirs with their allotted money towards the end of the trip. Most things in the parks can be found at the Disney store in DTD. You can plan a shopping trip for one of your last days and have them write down what they want as they see it in the parks so they dont feel as though it will be forgotten.
We have also bought Disney t-shirts on clearance at the disney store before going for less than $5.00 each so we never buy clothing in the parks for the outrageous prices, you can save it and give it to them there.

We took a pic of the things the kids liked, and let them think about it before they purchased it. We'd go back if they still wanted it.

 

[kstgelais4]

I'm taking my family of six for four days we will visit each park . Two of my kids are teens and will probably venture off on there own while at the park .. So my question how much to give them each day for food and whatever ? We have no meal plan and will just be eating quick service meals .. Any help would be great

I would say a generous estimate would be $40-$50
I'm assuming that your older kids are teens which could mean they have a heartier appetite.
You would need to assume they would need about $12-$15 per meal, plus a little for snacks (anywhere from $2-$6 a piece).
Pack them water to carry or allot a little extra for drinks too. That's where things start getting crazy. $3 a pop for beverages can accumulate quickly!

 

[smithgang5]

I would say a generous estimate would be $40-$50
I'm assuming that your older kids are teens which could mean they have a heartier appetite.
You would need to assume they would need about $12-$15 per meal, plus a little for snacks (anywhere from $2-$6 a piece).
Pack them water to carry or allot a little extra for drinks too. That's where things start getting crazy. $3 a pop for beverages can accumulate quickly!

Thank you

 

[Marionnette]

Dh and I also decided we will go to a nearby grocery and get breakfast items like cereal and muffins and eat all our breakfasts at the resort.

With that said, what grocery stores, are nearby?

Blessings, Michelle

It will depend on where you are staying and if you will have a car. Mousesavers has a list of stores in the area surrounding Disney World. You can find it here:
http://www.mousesavers.com/walt-dis...r-disney-world-discounts-and-deals/#groceries

Mary also has a GPS POI file that you can download to your GPS unit. I added it to my Garmin a couple of years ago and it works extremely well. I had no problem finding a grocery store near AKV on my January trip.

I want to add that if you don't have a car and need to use a taxi to get to the store and back, you might be better off just buying breakfast stuff in the gift shop of your resort. The mark up is not that bad when you factor in how much you would pay in taxi fare.

 

[DawnM]

My kids no longer care about most of the souvenirs but when they were younger, we would spend one day going over to the Disney Outlets for them to get a little something. Usually $25 per kid.

We buy official WDW T-shirts at yard sales and thrift stores. Last month we found three Pirates of the Carribean ride shirts with the tags still crisp on them for $2 each. People spend a lot at the parks and sell it the next year or so when they realize they won't be using them. I get a lot of mugs and such this way too. When I find a Disney item, I get it. Last week at a yard sale I found a Kilimanjaro Safari hat for 50 cents. The $26 WDW sticker was still in it!

Now, when we have extra Disney rewards points and I tell them they can spend $100 each or so, they much prefer to head to DTD and spend it on the Lego store, so it isn't that we don't spend anything, but just not on official Disney stuff. The lego store is a whole different issue!

As far as the trip itself, we are pretty frugal. We stay off site in a condo, buy YES tickets, and drive down.

 

[tlh0726]

We let our kids pick one thing per trip.

One year DS got a pull back and let go train with Mickey at the gift shop exiting Splash Mountain. DD got a Tiana pen at the Christmas store. I think we spent like $18


As others have said, it is going to depend on you and your family's choices.

 

[soccermother]

I don't take my kids into the gift shops at Disney -- everything is overpriced, it is a waste of valuable park time, and it is hard to miss what you don't know exists.

One difficulty is the expensive light up toys sold at night from carts in every park. I buy the cheap dollar store glow necklaces in advance of our trip and hand those out when they whine about the light up toys.

Great cheap souvenirs:

Bring a roll of quarters for each kid and about 20 pennies. There are penny smasher machines hidden everywhere and kids like finding the machines and smashing the pennies. Each machine has a different design. If you have another $10 slip into the gift shop without your kids and buy the collector's album for displaying their pennies.

Using your own camera, take tons of pictures- on the plane, at the hotel, with the characters, on the rides. Print out the best 100 pictures when you get home. For about $10 in the parks and in the Disney hotels you can buy a Disney album that holds 100 4x6 photos. (or, spend less at the dollar store for a generic album). My kids love looking back several years later through our trip albums.

Collect one pen from each park. These cost about $4 each and you will think of Disney all year long when you write with them.

If you are going to do a lot of character meals and your kids like doing crafts, make your own autograph books in advance and bring along for signatures.

Final thought: Disney just isn't cheap, no matter how much you try. My husband likes to joke by telling everyone that our annual trip is my way of purging us of all extra cash on hand so that we aren't weighed down by it.

 

[maggs1035]

We are heading to WDW in a little over 5 weeks and are trying to get our ducks in a row. We've been saving for months to pay off our flights and trip (DONE and DONE!!) and are now trying to figure out how much we need to set aside for Disney spending. I understand it's different for everyone, but thought I'd ask to get a general idea.

Some background...we have three DD's (7, 5, and 2) who each have $300 in gift cards to spend already. We are on the TS dining plan and plan to have my 2 year old share instead of buying her a meal. I know we'll be paying gratuities and tips, so I've accounted for that.

I'm pretty frugal, so while I figure I'll buy a few souvenirs (picture frame/album, Christmas ornament), I'm not going to go crazy!

Why would you pay for meals for your 2 yr old? If you have the dining plan she would be included? Plus I thought that 2 yr olds ate free?